Dagenham & Redbridge: Player Spotlight

FC Halifax Town will continue their home campaign as they welcome East London side Dagenham and Redbridge to the MBi Shay stadium on Saturday the 18th of August.

Jamie Fullarton and The Shaymen will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s away defeat to Salford City by comfortably disposing of The Daggers at the weekend.

The visitors will be looking to improve on their respectable 11th place finish from last season and to do this they have brought in several new recruits to see them up the table.

Arguably the most notable new signing comes in the shape of the manager Peter Taylor who has a wealth of experience in the game, he won the Premier League Manger of the month whilst guiding Leicester through a top-flight campaign in 2000. Taylor got his biggest managerial role when he became the caretaker manager for England when they face Italy in November 2000, Taylor made some important decisions that day including giving David Beckham the captain’s armband for the first time.

The side who play their home games at Victoria Road endured a mixed pre-season under Taylor picking up three wins, one draw and one loss. The first win after beating a West Ham United XI before finding themselves drawing at home with Essex neighbours Colchester United. The Dagger got their second win of pre-season winning 3-1 away at Bishop Stortford before succumbing to their first defeat of pre-season at home to Cambridge United. The East London team ended their pre-season campaign with a 3-2 away win at Hemel Hempstead.

The league campaign however hasn’t been as successful for The Daggers in the opening weeks finding themselves already with three losses and one draw in the opening four games. An opening day 1-0 defeat away at Boreham Wood was a sign of things to come as they followed this up with a 2-1 home defeat to Maidstone United, before scraping a 2-2 draw at home to Maidenhead United; which was followed by another away defeat at Aldershot Town with The Daggers losing 2-1.

To tackle these issues Peter Taylor has made several signings to try and muster the goals to turn around these results.

The Player Spotlight this week is focusing on Striker Lamar Reynolds who is a quick striker with a smart finish, could use the weekends clash with Town and the catalyst to kick start his goal scoring in the National League.

The 22-year-old was born in Jamaica before moving to England at the age of 8. Reynolds started his career at Greater London side Barking FC who play their football in the Isthmian League North Division. Making his debut in 2013 Reynolds scored 9 goals in 27 games in his first spell at the club before joining Thurrock where he scored once in 23 outings.

Unsuccessful spells at Aveley, Grays Athletic and Heybridge Swifts followed with the striker failing to score for any of the outfits.

He then remerged and found his goalscoring touch again when he re-joined boyhood club Barking FC in the January of 2016 where he managed to finish the clubs second top scorer of the season after scoring 10 goals in 15 games in the latter half of the campaign.

Reynolds then joined Essex based Brentwood Town where he has enjoyed his most successful spell to date scoring an impressive 26 goals in 35 games during the 2016/17 season.

He then tried to further his career after attending a V9 Jamie Vardy training programme which showcases the best non-league players to scouts, from this he secured a two-year contract at Newport County; turning out on 10 occasions for The Exiles.

After an unsuccessful loan spell at Leyton Orient Reynolds joined The Daggers in the summer of 2018 and is yet to get of the mark in this campaign after an impressive pre-season. Although having not yet found the net this season, Lamar Reynolds will provide a tricky test for the Halifax backline on Saturday.

After the meeting with Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday, Town will travel to Boreham Wood on the 25th August.